Let us suppose for a moment, that you are the victim of a theft of a substantial amount of money. Let’s suppose further, that you know who the perpetrators are. They are your neighbors, a mother and/or father criminal team, who have used and are continuing to use their ill-gotten gains to build a home next to yours and provide their children with a nice lifestyle. You go to law enforcement, expecting swift justice and the recovery of your money, only to be told by law enforcement that your money will never be recovered because it might harm the children of the perpetrators, who through no fault of their own are enjoying the fruits of their parents’ theft.

Think about it. Does that sound like a fair and just result by any rational justice system that you know of? A major tenet of our justice system is that wrongdoers, and even those who may innocently benefit from their wrongdoing, should not be allowed to profit from that wrongdoing. So it is that, if you purchase an item in good faith from a thief, upon the discovery of its true nature, the law requires that it must be returned to its rightful owner and that you perhaps suffer the loss of your money. Our prisons are full of people whose children are suffering because of the consequences of their parents’ actions. But it is because of their parents’ actions that they are suffering and not the actions of a society whose very foundation is based on the rule of law.

So I find it hard to swallow the rationale of President Obama, or for that matter, Sen. Marco Rubio, who say that the children of illegal aliens are the victims of some kind of wrong perpetrated on them by American society and that we must rectify it by allowing them to live their dream and, in effect, grant them amnesty from their parents’ wrongdoing. I am a lawyer. I have practiced in the criminal law area in one capacity or another for almost 30 years — as a naval officer, prosecutor, judge, parole board member, legislator and a defense lawyer. With the exception of defense lawyer, every one of my public service jobs required me to take an oath that contained the words to uphold and defend the Constitution, and some went even further to require me to swear to uphold the laws of our nation, and of our state. Needless to say, the law and upholding the law has been my career.

Laws are passed by legislatures, and in the case of federal immigration laws, enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice and Dept. of Homeland Security — agencies under the president. I consider the president’s actions unconstitutional, illegal, a breach of the separation of powers and little more than political pandering. On Jan. 1, 2013, I will be sworn-in as the district attorney for the 156th Judicial District in South Texas. How do you think the citizens of my D.A. district would react if, upon taking my oath of office, I announced all thieves would no longer be prosecuted by my office? My citizens would quickly move to remove me from office, and the thieves would run rampant in the streets in the meantime. Prosecutorial discretion is one thing, and done on a case by case basis, but blanket policies publicly pronounced by someone in authority who has taken an oath to the contrary to those policies, do little more than promote lawlessness, disrespect for the law, and undermine our whole system of government.

I am a legal immigrant to this country. My parents and I followed the law, waited in line, and did things the right way at a cost of significant time and treasure. My father, my brother and I have served in the U.S. Armed Services to defend this country. To say that service is the equivalent of college is an insult! Just like you in everyday life, I resent people who cut in line and add insult to injury by inviting others to join them. Be they children or not. Furthermore, lest you think that the only profit that the children of illegal aliens have drawn from their parents’ wrongful actions in American society is their residency, consider that their parents may have:

1. accessed Medicaid for them as a minor and to do so they would have fraudulently filled out paperwork applying for it when it is illegal and a crime to do so.

2. driven without a driver’s license in a state that does not allow illegal aliens the right to a driver’s license.

3. accessed our public highways while driving and not maintaining proper liability auto insurance as required by most (all) states.

4. if they were working and did not have a SS card/number, were they fraudulently using a made up number or another individual’s social security number?

5. did they or their parents access federal food subsidy programs illegally such as food stamps or federal free lunch programs using false documents or identifiers?

6. failed to file income tax returns, or worse still, filed income tax returns only to be given an earned income tax credit refund, which is essentially welfare.

7. taken a job from a legal resident.

I could go on and on, but my point is that this whole illegal immigration problem has cost America more than it knows, and until our borders are secure, it will continue to do so. Granting de facto amnesty will only make the situation worse.

Jose', very well written article. I am the son of a mother that can to the US legally from Brazil. Obama is metaphorically walking on the constitution and the ignoring law. He is acting like a dictator and I pray to GOD that plenty of people come November vote him out of office!

Your second paragraph is so right on! "A major tenet of our justice system is that wrongdoers, and even those who may innocently benefit from their wrongdoing, should not be allowed to profit from that wrongdoing."

I do have a solution that I would support. You want to allow an individual to immigrate who has not followed the legal path to immigrate? Fine, you file the affidavit of support along with posting a cash bond of $100,000 for each one and bring all you want across the border.

Just as I though, you want the American taxpayer to assume the responsibility for the illegal.

Isn't it odd for someone to criticize the government when that person has lived off of government paychecks for more than 30 years?

I also wonder how many scholarships for minorities that Mr. Aliseda received while he got his law degree. Of course, he wouldn't have gotten that great education courtesy of the taxpayers if his parents hadn't bothered to apply for citizenship.